Machine for gathering signatures



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. D. M00. SMYTH.

MACHINE FOB. GATHERING SIGNATURES. No. 404,119. Patented May 28, 1889.

N. PETERS. P'lIolwLIlMgmpher, Washingiun. D. C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. M00. SMYTH.

MACHINE FOR GATHERING SIGNATURES. v No. 404,119. Patented May 28, 1889.

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(.No Model.) 3 SheetsSh eet 3.

D. M00, SMYTH.

MAGHINE FOR GATHERING SIGNATURES. No. 404,119. Patented May 28, 1889 N. Perms PholoLilhagmphsr. Wanhinglon. 01:,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. DAVID MCCONNELL SMYTH, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE FOR GATHERING SIGNATURES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,119, dated May 28, 1889.

Application filed August 27, 1887. Renewed April 2, 1889. Serial No.305,803- (No model.)

natures, of which the following is a specification.

In book-binding it is usual to place thefolded signatures in piles upon a bench or table and then to gather the signatures to form a volume by taking up one signature after another in succession and placing them together. This operation is tedious, and there is risk of mistakes arising from leaving out one or more signatures in gathering them by hand.

My invention is made for facilitating the gathering operation and for lessening the risk of mistake by performing the successive operations automatically.

The piles of folded signatures are put into bins, and the lower. or bottom signatures in all the bins are discharged automatically and fall upon a collecting slide or slides, and the signatures lie shingled or lapping one upon the other, and if any signature has not been delivered it is noticeable at a glance, and then a traveler pushes all the signatures together into one pile, and they are received upon a table.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View. Fig. 2 is an elevation at one end of the machine. Fig. 3 is an elevation at the other end. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section at the line 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a plan of some of the bins with the signatures in them. Fig. 6 is a cross-section of one of the inclined bins.

The frame of the machine is composed of the sills A, posts B, transverse connectingbars C, and longitudinal connecting-bars D; and E is the driving-shaft, to which suitable power is applied.

The machine is of the desired size for receiving as many bundles of signatures as there are signatures in the volume. I have only represented seven bins, F, for the reception of seven bundles of signatures; but the number should ordinarily be greater in each machine and sufficient for the signatures of a volume, because as many bins can be made use of as necessary, those that are not required remaining empty.

Each bin is made with a bottom, 2, preferably inclined, a back, 3, and an end, 4, and these bins are close together or lap one upon the other, so that when the bottom signature in each bin is pressed out from beneath the pile of signatures, as hereinafter described, the signatures will fall upon the collecting-slide G, and one signature will lap upon the next, similar to shingles.

In each bin there is a pin, 6, which may be movable in holes made in the bottoms 2, so that the distance between the pin and the separator H at the end of the bin is slightly greater than the height of signatures from top to bottom of the pages.

Each separator H is preferably in the form of a hooked plate attached at the end of the bin by the screw '7, and the separator is adjusted so that the distance between the point of the hook and the bottom of the bin is slightly greater than the thickness of the lower signature as it lies in its folded condition at the bottom of the pile of signatures.

At the back of the machine the bars I are shown as extending and as securely fastened to the posts B of the frame, and they are connected at'their outer ends by the longitudinal bar K, and upon these bars I the stock L is mounted and slides back and forth by suit able mechanism, such as hereinafter described.

The pushers N are in the form of bars, each of which is fastened at one end to the stock L, and the pusher-bar is in a groove in the bottom 2 of each inclined bin; hence as the stock L is moved back'and forth one set of signatures is discharged, each movement by the pusher carrying the lower signature out from each pile of signatures beneath the respective separators, so that such signatures fall upon the collecting-slide.

Any suitable mechanism may be made use of for moving the stock L. I prefer to use a rock-shaft, O,with crank-levers O at the ends the said levers and to the rock-shaft and move the stock and the pushers. The crankpin of the crank 11 is preferably adjustable to vary the throw of the crank-levers, stock, and pushers.

The collecting-slide G is made in two parts or with a longitudinal slot through the middle, and with a fence, G, at the outer edge, against which the heads of the signatures are projected as they are discharged from the bins, and there is a traveler, P, that is moved from end to end of the collecting-slide by any suitable means. I have shown a link, 13, and bent lever Q, the pivot 14 of whichis upon the longitudinal bar K, and the other end of this bent lever Q is connected by a rod, 15, to the crank-arm R 011 the rock-shaft 0, so that at every movement of the rock-shaft the traveler P is slid in one direction or the other, and the size and position of the parts are such that the travelerP will be moved a greaterdistance than the space occupied by the signatures as they lie lapping one upon the other upon the collecting-slide G.

The traveler P is preferably made with a pivoted push-plate, S, and the lower end, 17, of the push-plate is in the form of a finger extending below the bottom of the traveler, as seen in Fig. 4, and this finger 17 comes in contact with astationary stop, 20, at the extreme backward movement or stroke of the traveler, and in so doing the push-plate is swung up into nearly a vertical position, and it acts against the back edges of the folded signatures as they lie lapping upon each other and pushes them all up into one pile at the end of the collecting-slide G, so that the whole or a portion of the signatures required for one volume will be thus gathered together and placed "in a pile, ready to be removed by hand or to be elevated by a table, as hereinafter described;-

In the movement of the traveler the lower back corner of the pivoted push-plate S runs over and depresses the spring-finger 21, and

this springs up when the push-plate has passed beyond it, and as the traveler comes back upon its return movement the end of, the tinger 21 acts to swing the pivoted push-plate down into a horizontal position, so that it may return beneath the signatures as they are pushed out from the inclined boxes and fall in a range upon the collecting-slide.

I prefer to make use of the elevating-table V at the extreme end of the collecting-slide G. This table V is upon a column, 25, sliding vertically in the stationary slotted tube 26, and there is a bent lever, W, which may be pivoted upon the driving-shaft E and receive its movement from the link 27 to one of thecrank-levers O, and at the otherend of the bent lever W is a slot through which passes a pin, 29, that enters the lower part of the column 25, so that as the rock-shaft O is moved in one direction the connecting-rod 27 and bent lever l/V draw the table V down until its upper surface is below the top of the collecting-slide G, and the parts are so timed that the table V reaches its downward movement shortly before the traveler has gathered the signatures into one pile, and then the shaped corner-piecesare adjustable by screws through the slotted rails 32, so as to accommodate different sizes of folded signatures.

The corner-pieces 33 are upon line with the inner face of the fence G and the ends of the inclined bins, respectively, so that the cellected signatures pass freely between these corner-pieces; but these corner-pieces are flanged at 34 to come against the top andbot- .tom portions of the back of the volume when the volume of signatures is elevated by and upon the table V, and this table V is to be smaller than the folded sheets, in order that the same may pass by the inclined springs '37 38, which springs, being fastened upon the inner faces of the corner-pieces 30 and 33, serve to bring the edges of the signatures into line with each other'at the top and bottom of the volumeof signatures as they lie upon the table V, and are elevated thereby,

between such springs 37 and 38, and after the table rises above the tops of said springs 37 the pile of folded signatures will be supported by such springs and the volumes or bundles will be piled one under the other each time the table is lifted, and the cornerpieces 30 33 34 can be extended to any desired height and the volumes can be lifted off in a pile periodically.

There is a vertical rod, 50, fastened at its upper end to oneedge of the elevating-table V and passing down freely through a hole in the collecting-slide, the object of this being to arrest the movementof, the end signature upon the collecting-slide until after the table has passed below the level of the top ofgthe collecting-slide.

I have shown the fence G as fastened to one part of the collecting-slide, andthis part of the collecting-slide is slotted transversely and receives bolts that pass through the slots into the bed portion of the collecting-slide, so that the fence may be adjusted to suit different sizes of signatures, and the outercornerpieces, 30 and 33, being supported by the fence, are adjusted with it.

' The contractile spring 42 aids in drawing down the table. 7 g

In the drawings I have shown a simple form of machine, which may be extended in length, so as to contain any desired number of bins; but as it is advantageous to make the gathering-machine compact it is usually preferable to arrange the bins in tiers, one above the other, so as to occupy less space. In such an arrangement the devices represented are duplicated; but the vertical corner-pieces 3O 33 34 are common to the respective tiers, and the springs 37 38 are slightly below the level of the respective collecting-slides in the tiers, so that the piles of signatures will be passed from the respective collecting-slides in between the corner-pieces and rest upon these springs 37 38, and the movement given to the elevating-table Vis to be sufficient to lift the respective piles of signatures and bring them all together at the top of the corner-pieces. In this manner a volume containing any desired number of signatures can be made up, the signatures being properly placed in the respective bins, the number of bins being equal to or exceeding the number of signatures; and where the number of bins is twice as many as the number of signatures two volumes can be made up simultaneously, and so on.

Then the bins are placed more nearly upright than those shown in the drawings, it is advantageous to employ a spring, as represented at 40, Fig. 6, to press the pile of signatures toward the bottom side containing the reciprocating pusher. As before mentioned, the traveler for moving the signatures along upon the gathering-slide may be actuated by any suitable mechanism. WVhere there are several tiers of bins with their corresponding collecting-slides and travelers, the said travelers may receive their motions from belts passing around pulleys, and connected with a wheel or drum to which an oscillating or rotary movement in alternately-opposite directions is communicated.

I claim as my invention-- 1. The combination, in a machine for gath= ering signatures, of a range of bins for holding the piles of signatures, reciprocating pushers for discharging the lower signature of each pile of signatures automatically, a collectingslide upon which the signatures fall, and a traveler for moving the signatures along upon the collectingslide and gathering the signatures into a bundle, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the range of inclined bins for holding the piles of signatures, of an adjustable separator at the end of each bin anda pusher in. the bottom of the bin, and means for reciprocating the same along the bin and below the pile of signatures for removing automatically the lower signature from each pile of signatures, and a collectingslide for receiving said signatures, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a machine forgathering book-signatures, of a range of bins, separators at the ends of the bins, a reciprocating pusher in the bottom of each bin for discharging the lower signatures in the piles of signatures, a stock to which the pushers are connected, guide-bars for the same, connecting-rods, crank-levers, and a rock-shaft for giving motion to the stock, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, in a machine for gathering book-signatures, of a range of bins for holding the piles of folded signatures, automatic mechanism, substantially as specified, for discharging the lowest signature from each pile of signatures, a collecting-slide for receiving the signatures, a traveler, mechanism for actuating the same, and a pivoted push-plate and means for turning the same horizontally when the traveler is returning, and for swinging the push-plate nearly vertical before moving the same to gather the sheets, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in a machine for gathering signatures, of a collecting-slide, means for delivering the signatures upon such collecting-slide, so as to lap one upon the other, a traveler for gathering the signatures into one pile, an elevating-table for receiving the pile or volume of signatures, and corner-pieces between which the volume of signatures is raised, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 10th day of August, 1887.

DAVID MOCONNELL SMYTH.

\Vitn esses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT. 

